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1 to 15 April 2015 16 to 30 April 2015

Thursday April 16, 2015

This day does not start well!
I called ERS at 7 am and everything goes well. They tell me the tow truck will be here by noon.

By one thirty the tow truck is still not here! I call the tow truck and find out that ERS has not yet sent the paperwork to them. (Inset swear word here)...
I call back ERS and they said they would send the fax right away.
The tow truck finally arrives by three thirty. This time we are not impressed with Goodsam ERS. It is not the tow truck company's fault.

We have some apprehensions after the towing job last November!

They start the job and Michele and I keep a sharp eye on what is going on.

We are very surprised at how long it took them to get everything ready for towing. Close to two hours of work before they even turned a wheel. We are impressed!!!

They drive only 40 km/h on the back roads to keep the motorhome front end from bouncing, super!

Once we are on the interstate they only drive at 70 km/h. Over one of the overpass the motorhome bounced big time. They stopped right away to check for damage. They were scared and so were we. Nothing is damaged.

After about 140 km and over 4 hours, we finally arrive at Rush Truck Center near Nashville.
The towing went very well and now some of the stress is relieved.
We thank the tow truck owner and his co-worker for a well-done job.

We are at Rush Truck Center and this is a large chain of garages in the United-States.

They close at night and we cannot stay in the motorhome for the night. We will have to spend the next few nights at the Ramada motel.
The Rush truck canter and other garages have a deal going on with Ramada and they only charge us $70. The best price we could get online was $100.

We cannot wait to see what will happen tomorrow morning.

Friday April 17, 2015

I spend most of the morning at the garage. I understand they have their clients to look after, so we end up in line like everybody else.
We just have to wait and see. To change our mind, we look for a few caches around the motel.
We have to go to a small cemetery 2 minutes from the motel to find a cache.
We love the hint, ""Near" and dear to Canada".

We think it is in the wall, but we found nothing. I remember the hint and see two maple trees. Of course, the maple leaf on our flag.
The cache is at the base of one of the maple tree.

The maple leaves.

Rush truck center is open from 7 am until 10 pm. We go to the motorhome for supper. We check with the office and we are still in line. We think of a plan "B", a plan "C" and even a plan "D". Plan "D" is to put the fire in the motorhome, but we will not do that.
I think we may be shopping for a new motorhome once we are back in Canada. More to follow on that.

Saturday April 18, 2015

Yesterday we looked at other option for our stay here. We tried motel, hotel, short-term rent for apartment, even a cabin at a campground, but nothing is cheaper or available below $70 a night. I guess we are staying here for a while.

I am at the garage again this morning. I do not want to bug them too much, but at the same time I want them to understand we have to be out of the United-States soon. On the way back home we stop at Walmart one of their big submarine for $5.99.

With our belly full, we go out and look for caches this afternoon.

We found 10 caches this afternoon, with the three I found this morning it makes a good day caching with 13 caches found.
This is the first time we see a cache in the middle of a field, in a hole!

Most of the caches we looked for were near or in the bush. I use my walking stick to make sure no spider or snakes are in there before we put our hand in blind spots...

Pizza night tonight.

On our way to get the pizza, we found another 3 caches. We are now at 16 caches for today.

Even if we are close to Nashville, we do not feel like visiting Nashville again. We are just not in the visiting mood while waiting for the motorhome.

Sunday April 19, 2015

We woke up to rain, outside of course!
We spend the morning reading.

The weather forecast for this afternoon is rain and thunderstorms.
By 1 pm we are out looking for more caches before the storms come.

We only found 6 caches before the rain starts.
Here is one of them.

The rest of the day we have rain and thunderstorms.

We hope they will work on the motorhome tomorrow.
We have already spent $500 in motel and no work has been done!
I guess this happens when you live fulltime in a motorhome...

Monday April 20, 2015

Last night, we had some very strong wind with heavy rain. We did not hear anything inside!
The local news talks about that this morning. There was even wind damage in the Nashville North. Why did it not happen where our motorhome is?
Today, they will hook up the computer to the motorhome to diagnose the problems.
I am going to pick up Michele at the motel before lunch.

While waiting for something to happen, we have lunch and do some reading in the motorhome. Somewhere around two o'clock a technician comes and takes the motorhome close to the garage to hook up the computer.
The computer cannot talk to the motor or the transmission!
Now a day, even car/truck mechanics are like some aircraft mechanics. If the computer does not tell them what to fix, they are lost...
Therefore, the floor manager, the mechanics and other people have to talk about it for a while!
I also explain to them our predicament of living full-time in the motorhome. They understand our situation, but truckers also have to get their truck fixed. Therefore, we just get in line like everybody else.
Without getting into all the details, we will be going back to Canada to wait for the motorhome. So far, we have spent over $700 CDN for food and lodging and nothing was done to the motorhome.
After thinking about it, we put things in perspective and look at the bright side. We are not hurt, not sick, we chose this lifestyle with its ups and downs. We are just in a down part right now and we will assume the cost and continue traveling when it is fixed.

To get ready to leave tomorrow morning, we pack some stuff for living away from the motorhome. We also defrost the fridge and turn it off. Give away all the food to the people working at the motel. We also prepare the access to the engine from the top, meaning under our bed.

Everything that was under the bed, including the bed is now in the living room.

Pick up some last minute stuff before we leave the motorhome.

Once in our room, we prepare for our trip back to Canada tomorrow. We also look for short-term rental in the Windsor area.

Michele found a room in a private home and we communicate with Tadoh by email.
Yes, the room is available for the next month. We reserve the room...

Canada, here we come!

Tuesday April 21, 2015

The time we leave the room.

Going through Nashville was a piece of cake and as soon as we were on the other side, we are back in the countryside.
We have some fog in the low spot.

The sun starting to come up.

It was a nice sunrise.

The next state after Tennessee is Kentucky. Just before we get to Ohio and the big city of Cincinnati, we stopped for gas.
Cincinnati was easy to cross.

I know, I mentioned it before, but they have church everywhere in the States.

The I-75 is really nice until you get south of Toledo, Ohio.

From Toledo until Detroit, it is not fun with all the construction going on.

With gas at only $0.71 per liter, we stopped before we get to Canada for a fill up.

Why not have a $1.39 hot-dog for lunch!

When you get closer to the border, you listen to your GPS, but you also watch for the direction to the border. GPS will send you in the wrong spot many times.

The "Ambassador" bridge going across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario.

What? No line-up at the border!
We answer two questions and off we go...

Arriving in Windsor, we stop and look for a cheap motel for the night. We will not get the room until tomorrow afternoon.
Here we are at a cheap and clean motel for the night.

Later on, we receive an email from Tadoh letting us know we can come and check out the room at around 3 pm. Great!

Wednesday April 23, 2015

Before we vacate the motel, I go to the Service Ontario office to renew my driver's licenses and health card. I only had to wait 50 minutes, not too bad.

Once I get back to the motel room, we get everything ready for 11 am check out time. Next, we spend some time at the local shopping mall. We also look for some thrift shops for Michele and I looked for some caches. Michele is lucky, but I only found one cache.

We are at Tadoh and Doris place to look at the bedroom. All is good for us and for Doris.
Here is our new home for the next few weeks.
The bedroom.

A small kitchen with a microwave and small fridge. We also have access to the washer and dryer.

The family room we share with the family. Doris and Tadoh have three kids and Tadoh mother lives with them as well.

We have a bathroom with shower too.
We are happy with the rooms we have and the family is very friendly. They are from Cameroon.

I forgot that we even had some snowflakes today, what is up with that!

Thursday April 23, 2015

About 4 or 5 days ago I started to get a skin rash on one leg and then the other. Now I am sure it is poison ivy.
We went to the drug store and ask for the proper way to "handle" the rash. We already do what is needed.

This morning the rash is oozing out clear liquid. Just to be sure, I look for walk-in clinic in the Windsor area. I found 5 or 6 of them.
I decide to let a doctor look at it. The walk-in clinic I go to is located in the grocery store Real Canadian Super Store!
I get there by 10:45 and there are only 2 person in front of me. Soon I am in and talking to the doctor. He thinks I need a stronger ointment. It is so nice to see a doctor who is not in a rush! We even have time to talk about global warming!!! My next stop is the drug store where I have to wait 15 minutes for the ointment. I am back home by noon!

I cannot even imagine how long my family would have had to wait to be seen by a doctor in Quebec!
Ontario health care may not be the best, but I think it is pretty darn good and fast.

I can see some more snowflakes falling from the sky. The temperature is around +3°C.

We spend the rest of the day indoor ready and surfing on the net.

Friday April 24, 2015

We are having lunch at Garden Buffet. The buffet is small, but very good.

We are looking for a used small crock-pot to cook in our small kitchen. We are going to the thrift shops to look for one.
Nice eyes!

Yesterday I noticed a place that advertises oil change for $19.95.
The "mechanic" shows me my oil filter and tells me it is wrinkly because I have not changed my liquid coolant in 5 years!?!?!? What????
I pass on the new liquid coolant. I am sure it works on many people and he gets more money that way!!!
I know that my oil filter is more expensive than normal one. They have to add $5 for the oil change. After all the taxes, environmental taxes and other fee for our governments the total is $32. Not too bad for an oil change at $19.95!!!

Good news, we found a used, almost new, crock-pot for $5. I also found six more caches in Windsor today.

Back at our room, I meet Tadoh and he is a very nice man. Once again, we are lucky in our bad luck.

Saturday April 25, 2015

Our plan for today is to take a walk and look for caches by the Detroit River, on the Canadian side or course!

On our way downtown. Can you see the skyscraper way down there?

They are in Detroit!

Windsor has many mural in the downtown area. If time permits, we will come for a tour of them.

It turns out we will not be walking by the river. With a temperature at around +8°C and the wind blowing at 40 km/h, it is too cold for us to enjoy.
Our next step is to look for the information center for Windsor. The GPS is sending us in the wrong place. The road signs is, we are not sure where. Finally, the GPS is right, but it does not know about one-way streets...
Once at the information center, the young girl is good and gives us all kinds of information on things to do and see.

After thinking about it, we decide to tour the "Canadian Club Heritage Center" of Walkerville. Walkerville is a suburb of Windsor.
I am not a Rye drinker, but hey!
Here is the original office building of Hiram Walker, the owner of the Canadian Club distillery.

While we are waiting for the guided tour to start, we can view some Canadian Club paraphernalia. Here is an old wood pipe, it is a cypress tree used as a pipe. Pretty interesting information about it.

The office of Hiram Walker. When he got the building built, he told all the carpenters that they could add personal touches if they wanted to.

One example is the column on each side of the fireplace. Both of them were sculpted by hand and there are not two alike.

The backyard.

Hiram Walker was an American citizen and lived in Detroit. He was commuting everyday from Detroit to Walkerville.
All the buildings belonging to him in Ontario are facing Detroit.

The office building facing Detroit.

Our guide is this young man and the young girl was his shadow and learning how to be a guide.
We were surprised that we could touch pretty well everything except the ledgers. The ledgers are original and over 100 years old.

Notice the photo of Al Capone in the background? This basement conference room was used by Hiram Walker and Al Capone during the prohibition years.

On our way to the second floor, we pass by the tasting room.

On the left are bottles from different time and on the right are some example of today's bottle and where they are exported.

The old conference room with its 300-year-old table.

This tour was all about the stories of Canadian Club and not about how to make whiskey.
Now for the tasting...
On the left is the "Canadian Club, Chairman Select 100% Rye" and on the right is the "Canadian Club, Chairman Select , Maple".
I liked the 100% Rye, but the Maple left me indifferent.

I enjoyed the tour, but Michele, not as much!

On our way back home, we came across the entrance of the tunnel to go to the USA.

We had a good day even with the cold wind blowing.

Sunday April 26, 2015

This morning I am looking for some caches close to home. I found 8 in less that 2 hours.

After lunch, Michele and I are in "Black Oak Heritage Park" for a good walk and look for some caches.

It is nice to see parks like this one in an industrial area.

On our way to some caches. What? A frog!
The cache is the frog!

Right in the middle of the park, you have these old railroad tracks!

I do not know the name of those plant. I looked, but could not find the name.

We did well today. We found 10 out of 11 caches this afternoon. We only walked 4.4 km.

Monday April 27, 2015

This morning, I am at Canadian Tire for my car's front brakes. I also have an issue with the engine. When I drive 60 km/h, the RPM fluctuates and the car surges forward some.
By 7:45, I am at the A&W for a big breakfast.

After breakfast, I go back to Canadian Tire. By 10 am, the mechanic comes to have a talk with me. They changed the front brakes. He could not find anything about the fluctuation. He did reprogram the car computer and tells me I have a 100 days warranty on that.
So, after all that, I get out of there $367 lighter, but my car now runs great. Of course, they tried to blame my problems to the facts that I pull the car behind the motorhome.
On my way home, I only look for only one cache because the wind is some cold.

Michele and I spend the remainder of the day reading, surfing the net and updating our blog.

At around 3 pm, we got a call from Rush Truck Center in Nashville, YES!
They found a problem with the "Fuel Lift Pump" and ask if we authorize them to change it!
Like we would say no! Of course, change the darn pump.
We see this as a good sign, they are now working on the motorhome and the repairs should move forward from now on...

We keep our morale, we are in a nice place, warm and with nice people...

Tuesday April 28, 2015

First thing this morning, I am out looking for caches.
The caches are located in two cemeteries.
The first one is the Victoria Memorial Gardens, it has 4 caches, I found all 4 of them.
I really like this set up for a headstone. It is a bench to and a great place to stop and think about the loved one that is gone.

Less than 100 meters down the road, there is another cemetery, the Greenlawn Memorial Gardens. This one has 7 caches and I found all of them.
One of the caches is located next to this tower. As I step out of the car, I can hear classical music playing!
The music comes from inside the tower and I think it gives you a comforting feeling of tranquility. I love it!

I did well today with 12 caches found.

After lunch, Michele and I go to the local RV dealer. We just want to check out the deals and what we could possibly get for our motorhome.
Here we go to Leisure Trailer sales to have a look at one motorhome, the Jayco 2015, model Precept 35UN.

We explained to the salesman, Edward, our lifestyle and we are just testing the "water" as far as buying. This motorhome is OK, the price is in our range. After talking about the trading price of our motorhome, we were very surprised at how much our motorhome is worth. We are happy.

Now, we will still look at other motorhome at different dealers, but now we have a good idea where we are going as far as $$$.

Wednesday April 29, 2015

After breakfast, I go by myself looking for more caches, nothing else to do while waiting for the motorhome!
I find 3 and 3 that I did not find for various reasons. The main reason is too many people at the site.

With the shinning sun and light wind, Michele and I are walking the "Chrysler Canada Greenway Trail".
We will not be walking the 42 km of the trail.

Here we are walking the trail and looking for caches. The trail is an old railroad bed, after the railroad abandoned the tracks, Chrysler Canada gave a large sum of money to the local are to turn the old railroad bed into a trail.

A third of the caches are on the other side of the ditches.

When the caches were on the other side of the ditches, Michele throw me the pen to log our find.

No photo of Michele!

For this afternoon, we found 25 caches, a 10.9 km hike in 3h 42 m.

We really like our afternoon hike and we decided to have a take out pizza from Little Caesar for supper.

Since we got back to Ontario, we found 77 caches.

Thursday April 30, 2015

I am at the Service Ontario office here in Windsor. I am looking for information concerning purchasing a new vehicle in another province and bringing it back to Ontario. I already checked the Service Ontario web site, but found nothing. I come out of the office as confused as before. I look for some caches on my way back home. I only found a few before the rain started to come down hard.

While we are having lunch, Michele and I watch a TV show on the computer. With my belly full, I go out again to look for caches.

All the caches I am looking for are in an urban setting, so the rain had no impact on my search.
I had seen this type of cache on the web, but never a real one. This is cool!

I had seen this type of cache before.

This cache may look easy to find, but in real life, it is not that easy.

I got 11 caches this afternoon.

Until next time.

Life is good...